I am wife to a magnificent man and mother to five wonderful children. Three of my children were born in the Northwest and two were born thousands of miles away in Liberia, West Africa. Birthplace is no matter, all of my children were born in my heart. This is our journey.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

What can you do?

If 7% of Christians adopted ONE child, there would be no orphans in the world.

If one family from every church in America adopted one child from foster care, there would be no waiting kids in the system.

If you are not called to adoption in your home would you consider donating time or money to a family who's calling it is?

Adoption is not their thing. It's all of our thing. We are mandated to take care of the orphan and there are countless ways to do that. Adopt a child, donate money, hold a fundraiser, start an adoption ministry at church, help someone who already has, offer to give parents a break, pray, just be there for them.

So many don't want to get involved because it can be messy. They don't want to expose their own children. They don't have the funds. All valid reasons but having the child in your home is not the only way to be involved. There are so many invaluable ways that you can help make a difference to the families who are able to get messy.

We have thought of adopting again and may do so if God provides. We are not able to have more biological children and at times we would like to have an infant again. We still have a long ways to go in raising our children but the question is always out there, should we do it again? We may and we may not. But for sure our involvement with adoption will not end with the two gifts that we have been given from another land. There may be ways that we help others fan the flame that has been sparked in their own hearts and make a way for it to happen.

There is a link to an agency on the right that is working hard to find forever families for children as well as taking care of the children that stay in their home country. We have a jar on the counter that we add change and loose bills to for a Reading, wRiting and Rice program in Liberia, our twins' birth country. They love putting money in that jar. Every once in awhile my kids come and empty their wallets into it. Especially the older two, they are doing something to make a difference for those people that are in their hearts. We were talking with the kids recently about maybe adopting a baby someday if God allows. Moments later Lil brought me all the money she had, laid it on the table in front of me and said "Here is my donation". Her generosity is inspiring.

See those hands on the right in my sidebar? Those are my kids. My precious beautiful children. Is it messy sometimes? Sure it is. But some of the best fun is had while making messes. Just ask
my walls.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You go girl!
You definitely practice what you preach! [...and btw, I'm still proud of you]

heartchild said...

Thanks Dad. It means a lot.

Ginger said...

GREAT post! Thank you for that!

Anonymous said...

Preach it, sister! Awesome post! If only we could rent billboards with those statistics you cited at the beginning of the post... It would sure make the Christian world think.

Letitia said...

We, too, are at the point of praying and watching whether God wants us to adopt again. I have to admit that I am scared of the possible mess. I'm not sure if I'm "mom of 6" material (yes, 2 boys, in general, not specific ones, keep being in my heart. We have 4 girls at the present.)Also, I know it won't be many years until I have grandchildren I want to spend time with; not to mention that being a mom for 21 years has made me long for time alone with my husband. But yet, weekly right now, post after post, article after article are jumping out at me, without me looking for them, and tugging at my heart. So, we shall see what the Lord does.
Letitia
www.homeschoolblogger.com/SandBetweenMyToes/